This invention relates to a partially enclosed towable frame structure for receiving blown silage and causing it to be stacked on the ground in a predetermined uniform shape conducive to its preservation and more particularly is an improvement over a similar device disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,506 by providing novel means for compactly folding the frame under hydraulic power for road travel and hydraulically expanding the frame for stack forming operations.
The value of ensilaging roughage materials to preserve the food value therein for animal feeds has long been recognized and practiced by the use of silos, pits or trenches and stacking on the surface of the ground. It is essential that the silage be sealed from the air as is well known and the storage in silos makes it possible to do this efficiently. However, when available silos are filled or in those situations where there may be no silos available, resort is had to the pit or surface stacking methods indicated. For this purpose, the silage, when it is cut, is loaded into forage wagons which are hauled to the stacking area, unloaded into a blower and blown into a stack formation. My U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,506, using a towable frame with a top, sides, open bottom and ends and a depending swingable baffle, discloses an efficient approach to surface stacking but it has been determined that even though the outwardly sloping sides of this prior device can be drawn in to a vertical position for road travel, the overall size and bulk thereof remains relatively substantial and that a material reduction in size for purposes of transportation and storage would have many advantages.
Accordingly, it is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide a towable silage stack forming device utilizing the principle of a closed top, closed outwardly sloping sides, open bottom and ends and a depending baffle to intercept blown silage as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,506 but including improvements in the frame structure in the way of novel folding capabilities whereby the frame can be expanded to a relatively substantial size for stack forming purposes and retracted to a substantially reduced size as to width and height for road travel or storage.
More particularly, it is an object herein to provide a stack former of the above class which includes a rigid frame having a plurality of pivotally and hingedly connected components designed to fold and expand in a predetermined manner by means of hydraulically operated jacks.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a stack former as characterized which includes separate frame supported top and baffle elements each individually foldable for changing from a large operating size to a reduced size for transportation and storage and each manually adjustable by suitable cable controls.
The foregoing objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, together with the advantages of this invention will be more fully discussed and developed in the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.